Commentary on Turkey’s elections: the opposition’s efforts in vain

The head-to-head race in Turkey shows that a President Erdogan must still be expected – despite the economic crisis, corruption and official failures in the earthquake region. This is also due to an unfair election campaign.

Anyone who believed that 20 years of AKP and Recep Tayyip Erdogan were enough for the people of Turkey is mistaken. An increasingly autocratic style of government, inflation, low wages, allegations of corruption, some late state aid after the earthquake, probably more collapsed buildings due to botched construction – tolerated by Erdogan: All of this was not enough to lift him from office.

Likewise, the almost perfect launch pad was not enough for the opposition. Six parties from almost the entire political spectrum had agreed on a candidate and worked out a joint election program – borne by the shared desire to return to a parliamentary system. It is all the more astonishing that it is probably not enough for opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu to win the election with an absolute majority in the first ballot. Especially since many Kurds also regard him as capable of reaching a consensus. A majority of supporters of the Green Left Party and also the pro-Kurdish HDP may have voted for Kilicdaroglu.

Erdogan stirs up fears and resentments

It is possible that this is precisely the main reason for the close outcome in the first round of the presidential election. Erdogan has left no stone unturned in guiding voters willing to change back to the right – his – path. He has brought Kilicdaroglu close to the PKK with publicly broadcast questionable montage videos. His supposed logic is simple: Anyone who does not categorically distance themselves from the HDP is close to it. Those who are close to the HDP are close to the PKK. Anyone who is close to the PKK is actually a terrorist themselves.

On top of that, Kilicdaroglu made a literal misstep. He obviously accidentally stepped on a prayer rug with his shoes. Erdogan trotted it out with relish: an Alevi like Kilicdaroglu just doesn’t know his way around. His flight to the front didn’t help either, professing Alevism in a video. The tens of millions of clicks on the video are a remarkable social media success. But it wasn’t enough for an election victory against Erdogan.

Unfair campaign

And the withdrawal of candidate Muharrem Ince didn’t help Kilicdaroglu enough either. It had been speculated that he could get enough votes in the first round. It remains to be said that the election campaign was unfair. When 90 percent of the major media – especially electronic media – are loyal to Erdogan, it’s difficult to counter it. After all: Kilicdaroglu forces the powerful man from the Bosphorus into a second round. The many efforts of the united opposition have not been enough for the time being.